In the main announcement thread, I mentioned weekly drawings and iTally marks, so I want to go over these and other related items in a bit more detail here. This is also an excellent place to ask any questions you may have.

Oh, and before I forget, let me remind you that this contest officially begins on Monday, June 8. That is the day you may begin logging your pages.

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iTally Marks: There will be two winners to this contest; one will be determined solely by page count, the other, solely by iTally marks. You can earn iTally marks in any of the following ways: 1) writing book review(s); 2) nominating books for Book of the Month; 3) participating in the weekly coupon drawings (regardless of whether or not you win); and 4) starting new threads. There may be other opportunities that come up, but these are the main ones.

Book Reviews: You don't need any sort of permission to write a book review; simply start a new thread and have at it! When writing reviews, don't focus too much on general summaries (and don't give away spoilers either! ). Tell us why you liked the book so much, and why it's worth reading. We want your thoughts! Be sure to include the words "book review" in the subject description of your book-review-containing thread so we know to appraise it for points. Book reviews of the Passages books or the Official Guide belong the appropriate Whit's End thread; notify us of these Whit's End-based reviews here.

Book of the Month: There will be a nomination and voting process to choose each Book of the Month (the nominating thread for June will be up soon). To nominate a book, all you have to do is post the book's title, author, and a couple sentences explaining why your book should be chosen. Taq and/or I will select what we think are the best 3-5 cases, put them in a poll, and let you make the final decision.

Weekly Coupon Drawings: If you read 70 pages in a week, you're eligible for that week's coupon drawing (to take place on Saturdays). Simply post in the this thread sometime before Saturday each week, and your name will be put in the hat (you can start counting pages for the next week's drawing on Saturday). After you win once, however, you can't win again, unless all the other people in the drawing have already won too. Prizes range from things like choosing new names for the mods and admins from the book of your choice, to making us admins read a certain book, to... well, I can't give away all my secrets!

iTally Marks System:

Participation in one drawing: 10 marksNominating a book for Book of the Month: 5 marksYour Book of the Month nomination is chosen for the poll: 25 marksYour nomination becomes the Book of the Month! 40 marksBook Review - Level 1 (good): 30 marksBook Review - Level 2 (great): 50 marksBook Review - Level 3 (excellent): 75 marksStarting a new thread: 5 marks

^Yes, if your book nomination becomes the Book, you'll get 70 (5 25 40) total marks!

FAQs on Logging Pages:

Q: Does it matter what kind of book I read?A: Nope! Feel free to read whichever genre you prefer.

Q: What happens when there are pictures in the book? Do I subtract those pages?A: Good question! If there are just a few pictures here and there, don't worry about it. However, if there's a picture on every other page or something, do worry about it! Actually, don't worry; just subtract those pages from the page number on the last page of the book. And while we're talking about subtracting pages, if the actual book doesn't start until, say, page 7, subtract 6 from that total as well.

Q: I started reading Ben Hur and I just couldn't finish it! Can I still count the pages I read?A: Yes! You can count the pages you read even if you don't finish the book.

Q: What about my Bible?A: What do you think we are, a non-Christian board? Of course you can count the Bible! Update: For this contest, 1 Bible chapter = 1 page.

Q: What about dictionaries and encyclopedias? Do those count too?A: Surrre. Though I don't know why you'd want to. Textbooks and e-books are also allowed (as long as they have a page count).

Q: If I read a book with really small print, do I get extra credit?A: No, but that reminds me of something. If you read the Book of the Month, or any book in the AIO Passages series, you can count them for twice as many pages.

Q: I read a book right before the contest started. Does that count?A: No, only books read during the reading contest count. We don't, however, want to penalize you for "accidentally" having read a book we want to promote, so there are exceptions. If you've read the Book of the Month, or any book in the AIO Passages series, within the past year, you can count them. Just don't double the page count in that case.

Q: But what if I'm not the page count champ, iTally point victor, and never win a drawing? Will I get nothing? A: You will get the satisfaction of having enriched your summer with literature. Also, if you enter the weekly drawing 8 weeks out of 11, you will be rewarded with a special Perseverance Award.

Q: Could you win this contest? A: You're supposed to be asking questions about logging pages! Ah well... no, Taq and I are the only ineligible people.

Q: Wow, I think I understand everything there is to know about... everything!A: You're welcome.

Reading Log:

We're pleased to bring you a spiffy reading log in two formats! For those of you who want something to print out, we have a PDF that will do the trick; if you would rather input your books and page counts into the computer, our Excel spreadsheet is just the thing for you.

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I think that's everything! If I missed something, be sure to let me know. More than anything, we hope you have fun with this contest! Discussions related to anything in the book world are very encouraged!

Last edited by LizzieG on Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Question(s): do book reviews and book of the month nominations have to be for the book that you're reading currently? And if you read a bunch of books in one month, do you get to choose which one from that month you want to nominate?

Oops! There was a mix-up with the reading logs. This PDF is the real printable log. I'm going to replace the Word document with this one in the main post.

Yay, questions! I'm glad you're all as excited as I am for this contest to start!

Trent DeWhite wrote:

Just a quick clarification question - you will be the one determining whether our book reviews are "good", "great", or "excellent," correct?

LizzieG and/or Taq, yes.

Jugglah wrote:

Question(s): do book reviews and book of the month nominations have to be for the book that you're reading currently? And if you read a bunch of books in one month, do you get to choose which one from that month you want to nominate?

There aren't any restrictions on book nominating. It can be one you're currently reading, or it can be one you finished awhile back that was particularly stellar. Whatever you think is most deserving of a nomination.

Trent DeWhite wrote:

I'd like to echo Jugglah's question - how many nominations can we make per month?

That wasn't exactly Jugglah's question, but... one nomination a month - make it count!

Amethystic wrote:

LizzieG wrote:

Q: I started reading Ben Hur and I just couldn't finish it! Can I still count the pages I read?A: Yes! You can count the pages you read even if you don't finish the book.

For the record, I did finish.

So did I - and I really enjoyed it! I was actually referencing Dr. Dobson with that question (in his post-episode commentary of the Family Portraits episode "You're Not Going to Believe This" ).

KBT and BBB, I'll have the answers to your questions up sometime tomorrow (Sunday).

Q: If I read a book with really small print, do I get extra credit? A: No, but that reminds me of something. If you read the Book of the Month, or any book in the AIO Passages series, you can count them for twice as many pages.

What about other AIO related books, such as the novels and the Official Guide?

Also, if you read 140 pages in a week (not like I've read that much in my life), can you be entered in the drawing twice?

At this point, no.

BrokenButBeautiful wrote:

Does it matter if we've already read a book we read this summer several times already?

No, it doesn't matter.

Invisible Ninja wrote:

And is there a limit to how many book reviews we can write? Or perhaps a limit before we get no more iTallymarks no matter how many we write?Oh, and do we get anything for reading reviewed books?

No, but keep in mind that we're aiming for quality over quantity.

You'll be able to discuss those books!

Invisible Ninja wrote:

King Butter Turtle wrote:

Silly admins. If all of the point allotments are divisible by 5, there's no reason to have them so large.

Good point. It must be a morale thing. You feel better if you get 20 points instead of 2, even if relatively it is the same.

Invisible Ninja wrote:

What are we to do with our iTally reading log? Simply keep track of our reads so we can copy the list here at the end of the contest or what?

All you'll need to give us at the end of the contest is your total page count (you won't need to copy down every book you read); the reading log is just to help you keep track of those pages.

Irwin Springer wrote:

Quote:

Q: If I read a book with really small print, do I get extra credit?A: No, but that reminds me of something. If you read the Book of the Month, or any book in the AIO Passages series, you can count them for twice as many pages.

What about other AIO related books, such as the novels and the Official Guide?

Obviously those books are encouraged, but no, no page count-doubling there. The reason we're providing a special incentive for the Passages books is because of their special connection with the episodes airing with fall.

random wrote:

I have a question. Can we have family look over our book reviews so they can help us make them better?

My Aunt was an english major, and my dad works for the library. He does a lot of book talks.

You can have others proofread your reviews or make suggestions, but make sure you do all the writing yourself!

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